Modern armored vehicles are of late equipped with platen-like and/or lamella-like armored walls which consequently form multiple targets and structured targets against which the prior, even high velocity subcaliber projectiles, have only a comparatively poor penetration.
To improve the penetration against multiple targets and structured targets, a projectile has been made known from German Pat. No. 1,194,292, whose thick-walled projectile casing surrounds a main core which is so subdivided transversely that the forward end of the main core forms a hemisphere whose diameter corresponds to that of the following cylindrical main core. The hemisphere is seated swingably in a conical or spherical recess at the end of a core-carrying part housed in the projectile tip and fabricated from heavy metal.
The projectile is designed to impact with an inclined attack angle upon the outer armoring whereby the forward part of the core-carrying part receives a torque about its center of gravity so that not only the latter itself penetrates perpendicular to the outer armoring, but also the same swinging movement is imparted to the two-part core. To facilitate the pivotal movement between core-carrying part and core, the thick-walled casing in the region of their separating joint is weakened in cross section by indentations.
The forward end of the core, which is spherically shaped for the purpose of the pivotal connection, must form a projectile unit with the following main core since the penetration of the armor by the ball-shaped leading surface alone is not possible but requires the mass of the following main core. The ball-shaped leading surface of the known projectile has poor penetration.